After making sure Rene was fast asleep in the tent, Arma proceeded to sneak away.

He knew that she would be mad if he got caught, but he had enough time to rest, he needed to train again.

Due to the damage caused by Black Dragon Lord, Arma’s body was not completely at 100 %, but if he did not start training soon, he feared his body would forget how to wield a sword.

But he also needed to be somewhere that Rene would not be able to hear him training.

So, he proceeded to go deep into the mountains, intending to come back by morning.

There, he repeatedly swung Akara’s sword, again and again.

He was repeating the same simple movements that Akara had taught him, but due to his damaged body, each movement was extremely taxing, physically and mentally. The pain was unbearable but Arma simply refused to stop.

Imagining a dragon before him, he would slice at it, repeatedly and relentlessly.

‘This is not good’

Akara’s words started to echo within his mind.

Akara: ‘Even if your mind knows the movements, the body is quick to forget. If you do not keep the muscle memory fresh on a regular basis, your body will lose the skills that you have painstakingly gained’

Defensive stance, block, slash.

Offensive stance, parry, and downward swing.

Defensive stance, spin, and stab.

If deconstructed into the smallest components, martial arts were not exactly a hard concept.

But in order to truly master them, one needed to be able to combine different combinations of stances, strategies, and attack patterns.

Then, there was a matter of imbuing the sword with his chi.

Akara’s sword was pretty heavy. Even with both of his hands, Arma could barely keep swinging it. When Akara used that very same sword, it seemed like the sword was as light as a feather. Akara could even wield it with only one hand.

Arma: “That demon sensei of mine was just crazy strong”

But even she was powerless against the Black Dragon Lord.

Just how strong he needed to become to stand a chance against him?

Is that even possible? With his broken and mangled body?

As Arma sank into his thoughts, he did not notice as the sounds of beasts approaching. In particular, the howling of wolves.

By the time he was out of his trance, he was already surrounded.

Arma: “Are you kidding me?”

They were circling him, waiting for a moment to strike.

Then, it began. One after another, they started to jump at him.

Using Akara’s demon sword, Arma managed to slash one wolf, but even more kept coming at him.

In his injured state, his ability to defend himself was almost nonexistent.

As more wolves attacked, Arma started to run.

But he underestimated their speed.

One wolf managed to graze Arma, leaving fresh cut marks on Arma’s face.

Soon enough, Arma found himself trapped between a large boulder and a pack of wolves.

He prepared to swing the sword again, but his body ended up failing at the most inopportune moment, making him drop his sword on the ground and cough up blood.

When he was healthy, he could face off against the mid-class dragons on his own, but in his current state, a pack of wolves was enough to do him in.

One after another, the wolves attacked him, each leaving damage as Arma could barely dodge in his current state. Now bloody and battered, it would be easy for the alpha male to sink his fangs into Arma’s throat. Arma waited as the alpha male started moving towards him, fangs ready to strike.

Arma: “Not killed by a dragon but by a bunch of wolves….*cough*…”

He was not horrified or scared.

What he felt was a sense of humiliation. He, a proud dragon hunter, now was on his knees, choking up on his own blood.

Rene did warn him that excessive movements would open up his internal injuries. According to her, the damage was done by dragon magic, and she, as a non-dragon, could not fix it with her magic. She could only somewhat accelerate Arma’s healing process. That is why, she wanted him to wait and heal.

Perhaps rushing off to train was a stupid idea and now he was paying the price.

Arma: “Sensei. I guess I will see you soon”

All of a sudden, Arma heard a loud howl from the top of the boulder.

There was another wolf on top, but this one was different.

It was a wolf as white as snow, with three tails. Each one of its tails had bright red tops and the wolf’s face was adorned with red whisker-like markings. It was at least twice as large as the other wolves.

Arma: “Another one?”

That was it. He was doomed already, but adding another wolf to the mix was nothing short of overkill.

But instead of attacking Arma, the white wolf pounced upon the wolves attacking him.

Arma: “What is he doing?!”

Arma couldn’t understand why the white wolf would attack fellow wolves instead of the injured and frankly helpless human.

White wolf was strong. Fighting with unmatched ferocity, the follower wolves were overwhelmed as the white wolf slashed at them with its claws and threw them with its jaws.

It was obvious that the follower wolves could not hope to take the white wolf down with numbers.

The only one who was of comparable strength to the white wolf was the alpha leading them.

Their eyes focused on one another, circling around each other, waiting for an opening.

Then, it happened.

Both wolves jumped, ready for a kill.

Fangs sunk into each other’s flesh, but only one could hope to emerge victorious.

Alpha wolf’s fangs sank into the white wolf’s front left leg while the white wolf’s fangs sank into the alpha’s throat.

With a gruesome motion, alpha’s throat was torn off and white wolf threw his mangled corpse towards his followers.

The outcome was clear. Their leader had lost.

Seeing no chance of surviving if they remained, the wolves fled with their tails tucked between their legs.

Now that the threat of the other wolves had vanished, Arma was not sure what to make of his strange rescuer.

On one hand it was a wolf, a predator that feasts upon meat and Arma was just a piece of meat in their eyes, but on the other hand, this wolf just saved his life.

Turning back to Arma, the white wolf walked towards him.

This wolf managed to single-handedly beat the entire pack. Even if Arma resisted, he knew that this wolf could easily maul him.

He half expected the white wolf to try to eat him.

But the wolf simply stood a hand’s reach away from Arma, with its eyes focused on Arma’s eye.

Arma: “You saved me”

Wolf nodded.

Arma: “Can you understand me?”

Once again, the wolf nodded.

Arma: “Are you going to eat me?”

The white wolf’s face looked a bit confused before it shook its head.

Arma: “In that case. Thank you”

Arma tried to stand up only to fall down.

Unexpectedly, the white wolf leaned towards Arma, putting its head under Arma’s armpit, helping him stand up.

Arma: “Well, this is humiliating”

White wolf growled.

Arma: “It’s not that I am ungrateful, apologies”

This was weird. White wolf may not be able to speak but it clearly understood every word Arma spoke.

Arma: “I should probably go back, Rene must be worried…Wanna come with me?”

Once again, the white wolf looked confused.

* * *

Arma: “Hi Rene”

Rene: “Arma! Where were you?! Do you know how worried I have bee-AAAH! A wild beast!”

Immediately, she took a stance to cast a spell. Her reaction was understandable. Arma did just come back with a white wolf bigger than him.

Rene: “Arma, step away from the mega wolf”

Arma: “It’s ok. Red is safe”

Rene: “Red?”

Arma: “Yeah, since he cannot talk, I can’t really ask his name, but he seems fine with me calling him Red”

Rene: “That thing is a dangerous beast”

Arma: “I know”

Rene: “You're covered in blood. Did it…?”

Arma: “No. Red did not hurt me; in fact, he was the one who saved me, right Red?”

White wolf simply made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a smirk before turning its head away from Arma.

Rene: “Can it understand you?”

Arma: “Every single word, as far as I can tell”

Rene: “You are in horrible shape, I will need to put new bandages on your old wounds and treat the new ones. How could you be so reckless?”

Arma: “Right. Sorry”

Rene: “You are one infuriating man, Arma Blood”

Saying that, she started to treat him.

But when she was taking off the bandages on Arma’s back, she noticed that his burnt skin was gradually peeling away. When she pulled on it, the portion of the skin peeled off completely, revealing white scales underneath.

If she did not know better, she would have guessed these were the scales of a dragon.

Rene: “Oh my goodness”

Arma: “Is something wrong?”

Rene: “Nothing. Everything is fine”